That's What Opposites Are All About

And We're Dancin'!

Okay, please tell me I'm not the only one who has been caught watching dumb movies on cable! The other day Carter discovered me indulging (yet again) in my favorite movie to discover while channel surfing: Center Stage. He walked in, watched for three seconds, and said (while walking right back out of the room), "This is too stupid." I do not know why I feel the compulsion to watch this puppy every time I see it's on (and according to Carter, it's on ALL the time). The logical part of my brain tells me that the plot is thin and the acting is bad, yet I get sucked into all Jody's drama every single time! Will she choose Cooper or Charlie? Will she ever become one of ABA's perfect ballerinas? Will she be able to complete the jaw-dropping costume changes during her final number? (How does she get her hair up into that complicated, dreadlocked up-do AND switch from pink shoes to red in the blink of an eye? Oh, right, film editing.) I think the GREAT dance numbers have a lot to do with it. But why do I watch the whole thing?

Do you have movies you HAVE to watch every time you find them on TV? Do you have a particular film that fills you with glee when you manage to catch the ending on a late night at home? Are they as shameful as my #1? Please say yes! (In the spirit of full disclosure, When Harry Met Sally, Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Sleepless in Seattle, and The Silence of the Lambs round out my Top Five Movies-I-Cannot-Resist-When-They-Come-On-TV. I will watch them each and EVERY time I find 'em).

Oh, and Carter's incredulity at my ability to watch Center Stage over and over would bother me a lot more if HIS favorite cable movie weren't Save The Last Dance, a movie that contains both ballet and dancing love triangles (although, admittedly, much better acting). We actually have that one on DVD.

Flying Our (Non-Freak) Flag

I'm excited that's it's the Fourth of July. We get to have a picnic and I get to watch delighted little girls see the fireworks tonight. But the best part is that I got to see this flying outside my house:


Now, don't get me wrong, I love being an American and I have always loved our flag because it is an emblem of the land I love, the home of the free and the brave. But my patriotism actually has little to do with my joy at seeing the old Stars and Stripes flapping outside my door. I am actually just relieved that we are no longer the only people on the block who DON'T have a flag and that there is a possibility (be it ever so slight) that our status as ward pariahs might have been changed.

There's a (long) story behind this sense of relief. Right after we moved in, Carter noticed our across-the-street neighbor putting up a flag on our property. He ran out to see what she was doing. She explained that every year in this ward, the Young Women sell flags to raise money for Girls Camp. Carter thought he was being funny and said, "Well, you're putting it up! It looks like you're not really giving me a choice!" Ah, my darling, abrasive husband and his difficult-to-get-every-time- (even-after-eight-years-of-marriage) so-that-lady-didn't-stand-a-chance sarcasm. He walked off and the mortified woman immediately started taking the flag down. Carter felt bad. He didn't mean to hurt her feelings, he just didn't want to buy a flag because he was worried about taking it down at the right time and folding it properly and stuff (we are very patriotic, after all, and wouldn't stand for flag abuse in any form.) (Oh, and in his defense, we'd just purchased a new home with plenty of projects to sap our time and energy. And we were expecting our third child. So he was just trying to conserve our resources and spare us the flag maintenance!). Well, he felt even worse when we both realized the Young Women were offering the SERVICE of putting up the flag for each national holiday, not the flag itself. This became apparent when the entire neighborhood became uniformly decorated with large, beautiful flags on that first national holiday after the "free sample" Carter thwarted. We were literally the ONLY people on the block who did not purchase this service (and this included neighbors of other faiths who had even LESS of a reason to support the Young Women than we do!). We basically looked like terrorists every holiday for a year (not to mention scrooges who refuse to help Mormon teenage girls in their quest to live out of doors and socially abuse each other and/or their leaders for one week each year). In fact, I'm willing to bet money (enough for one year of flag service) there's now an FBI profile on our family thanks to this faux pas.

Let's just say we enthusiastically signed up this year. And I'm so glad to see it's working. Also, I love America. You got that, Mr. FBI Agent?

Happy Fourth of July!

I'm Still Alive

I woke up this morning with a pulse. Normally that's not really remarkable, but today it means I survived my two week stint as a single mom! Carter will be home tonight. Hooray! I have been dreading these two weeks alone for more than a year and I honestly wasn't sure how I was going to make it. But I did it! And we actually managed to have some fun. Our secret? Staying REALLY busy:

We did loads of crafts (one each day). This was the first day when we made a countdown 'til Daddy gets home. (Look at how long that puppy is!)

We went to the movies (Kung Fu Panda was excellent. Well, the parts I saw when I wasn't busy wrangling children and picking up goldfish crackers were excellent. I told Chloe to do a kung fu move for this picture and this is what she came up with. Yeah, don't expect it to instruct you in kung fu, just entertain you.)

We enjoyed a Diva Reunion with Amber and met the beautiful Sydney (Chloe took this picture for us! We couldn't believe how well she did as our photographer!)

We rode the carousel (on a couple of different days. Definitely the girls' favorite. The thing they love best: picking what they're going to ride! Once we even followed this activity with ice cream cones. Pure Nirvana for them. Sometimes it is so easy to make kids happy.)

We had a picnic at the park (that's poor Owen Elsmore we're dropping here. The Elsmores were SO nice to us, hanging out with us on multiple occasions. Plus, Josh even watched all the big kids on Saturday so the mommies and babies could do lunch in Park City and hit the outlets!)

We went to the aquarium, which everybody, including Sadie, loved. Except don't ask them to pet a sting ray (even if you assure them that the stingers have been removed and that the rays are used to people). They are too smart to fall for that one.

Chloe and Piper developed a game where they would raid Sadie's closet and dress Piper up as a baby. It was pretty funny!

Additionally, we went to BounceU (I am a huge fan of this place! I wish I had pictures, but I couldn't manage the camera AND kids that were literally bouncing off the walls), ward Lunch Bunch (at Rumbi Grill, yum!), and dinner out with Grandpa Durham. We survived two ear infections, two trips to the pediatrician, two shots of antibiotics, a last minute Relief Society teaching gig, two Sundays at church (this last week we stayed all THREE hours), a nasty bout of teething (Sadie's tooth count is up to five!) and hearing all the wonderful things OTHER family members were doing (Carter hitting the National Gallery, the Louvre, Stonehenge, and Wicked in Europe while Katie was going to the Coldplay concert and shopping at an Anthropologie with three floors in New York). And, of course, we survived Father's Day without a father (Carter's absence was definitely the hardest to bear)! Despite all the odds against me making it through WITHOUT some type of psychotic break or dying from pure exhaustion, we did it! The fact that there are mothers out there that do it alone all the time simply amazes me. Welcome home, Carter!

Wicked Fun

Today Carter got to see:

while he was here:

Today I got to see:

while I was here:

Who had more fun? Well, before you automatically declare Carter the winner, please remember that nobody dumped a bag of goldfish crackers in his lap during his show. And he missed out on the distinct pleasure of following his theater experience with a visit to the pediatrician to solve the mystery of Sadie's 3 AM crying jags (the answer: double ear infections).

Yeah, he wins by a million percent. No wonder I'm feeling a bit "witchy" tonight.

Let's Go Exploring . . .

We got to attend a real, honest to goodness premiere last week. While there wasn't exactly a red carpet (it was at the Varsity Theater at BYU), Chloe and Piper DID get their pictures taken with the star of the show:




This is Jack from Imagine Island, which is the new TV show based on the software program Imagine Learning English. Carter and the rest of the video department at Imagine Learning, Inc. have been working for over a year to develop this show. It's a cute concept: an explorer (Jack) and a little robot (Booster, who speaks Spanish or Korean or whatever language they load for him) find treasures for the Imagine Museum. It helps children learn English vocabulary and letters. (If you want to learn more or even watch an episode, they have a fun website). BYU Television International picked up the show and it begins airing in Mexico and parts of Central and South America the first week in July. Additionally, the show has already earned a Telly Award. This has been a big project for Carter (he's written scripts, filmed, and edited for these first 26 episodes). And last Friday was the world premiere, where all of the company and their families got to see the show for the first time. Chloe and Piper had a sneak peak, though. As the shows have been filmed and edited, Carter has been bringing them home, so the girls were VERY familiar with Jack. When he walked out for his appearance, Chloe just about fainted. In fact, she had the same reaction I imagine I would have had if Jack from LOST showed up to take a picture with me (or Sawyer . . . I'm just like Kate--not too picky when it comes to those two!). She got all excited and twitterpated. SO FUNNY!

In addition to enjoying the premiere (which came complete with free food and goody bags with DVDs and posters and stuff---yes, we got swag!), we had the chance to walk around campus a little bit so that I could show them where I went to college:



Not that you can actually tell this is BYU from these pictures. But that IS where we were. They weren't bugged by the roaming EFY groups at all. In fact, they found them charming. I wish I could say the same for myself. Anyway, it was a great day! We are all so proud of Carter and all of his hard work that made Imagine Island come to life!